Parsons Rays

Parson’s Beach is only 2 miles from my front door, so we visit it often, and it never fails to show a new face. This is late in an iffy day weather-wise. I was after the rays here and the dramatics in the sky. I took a fairly straight forward Landscape program shot, biased a little for the sky by tipping the camera up and locking exposure, and then brought up the foreground in Lightroom.

Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.

In Lightroom, heavy Recovery for the sky (even biased as the exposure was). Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint right. A good deal of Fill Light for the foreground, but even then, to restore it to something like what my eye saw, without removing the dark areas of the clouds,  it required a Graduated Filter Effect from the bottom to lighten exposure on the sand.

From Around Home 2010.

A photo friend with whom I trade comments suggested that this might look good in B&W. We often have this discussion as he likes B&W better than I do. So, without further ado, a B&W version.